As the UK parliament gets dissolved this morning, all the major parties have begun their campaigns ahead of the general election on May 7th. Potential members of parliament up and down the country will be rallying their supporters, hoping to pull some from their rivals, and attempting to persuade some of the huge pool of non-voters to head to the polls.

But shocking research from the last election in 2010 revealed the amount of non-voters (15.9 million) outnumbered the supporters of any political party in the UK. During that election, the closest was the Tories with 10.7 million supporters.

Early indications are pointing towards even less people inclined to vote during this year's poll. A new hackfest, VoteHack, is therefore challenging developers to come up with ways to ensure these non-voters have their say on May 7th about the future of their country. As the hackathon's website says, "These people could change EVERYTHING."

Debates are being televised by all the major broadcasters in the run-up to the election, which could provide some inspiration for "second screen" applications to increase viewer engagement and share views across social networks to encourage more awareness. At the very least, these debates will help to boost the hype around the election for developers to take advantage of.

To take part, you will need to head down to 133-135 Bethnal Green Rd, Shoreditch, London on the weekend of the 11th - 12th April 2015. Tickets for developers cost £5 and are available for purchase through EventBrite on VoteHack's website here up until the first day of the event.